The Director of Industrial Relations is charged with responsibility for labor management, national negotiations, mechanization, safety and health for all divisions of the union, and the administration of the collective bargaining agreement.

There’s more to being a progressive union than achieving and enforcing a contract — and that’s where the Human Relations Department comes in. Our programs and benefits inspire members to participate in the union and give them a sense of inclusion, contribution, and ownership.

The Maintenance Craft is a diverse and complex division of the APWU. In addition to the three national officers who work at the union's headquarters in Washington, DC, representation is provided by nine Maintenance National Business Agents (NBAs) and three all-craft NBAs.

The Motor Vehicle Craft is composed of APWU members who transport mail and maintain postal vehicles, and includes MVS Clerks, who work in Vehicle Maintenance Facilities and in Transportation Departments in mail processing plants.

The Support Services Division represents APWU bargaining unit members at Information Technology/ Accounting Service Centers, Operating Services facilities, Mail Equipment Shops and Material Distribution Centers, as well as professional nurses employed by the Postal Service. The Division also includes APWU-represented workers who are employed in the private sector, including mail haul drivers and Mail Transport Equipment Service Center employees.

The Northeast Regional Coordinator is responsible for union activity in parts of New York and New Jersey, and Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

The Western Region Coordinator is responsible for the union's activities in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and American Samoa, Guam and Saipan.

The Deaf/Hard of Hearing Task Force is a forum for APWU members to address their unique problems and concerns in the workplace, union, and society. Established in 1988 by an amendment to the APWU National Constitution, its goals include: better communication, better representation; better training, a better workplace, a better union, and building friendship.

APWU POWER (Post Office Women for Equal Rights) is the women’s committee within the American Postal Workers Union. It unites women, with their special concerns, yet works within the framework of the national APWU organization.

The APWU National Postal Press Association (PPA) provides APWU communicators with a wide range of assistance, information, and educational programs concerning the publication of union newsletters and media.

HCRs

News: HCRs

10/03/2018 - (This article first appeared in the September/October 2018 issue of the American Postal Worker magazine)

By MVS Division Director Michael O. Foster

The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) and the United States Postal Service (USPS) are in the process of contract negotiations. It is no secret that MVS faces very challenging times during this round of negotiations. The USPS, inspired by the White House, is pushing an agenda of privatization and trying to turn middle class jobs into part-time positions.

The Postal Service will advance an agenda of cheap labor called “efficiency” in an attempt to extract concessions from many years of bargaining between the parties. Postal management’s agenda is to duplicate the business models of Wal-Mart, Target, UPS and other for-profit corporations that have little regard for hourly employees. In this model of corporate greed, many benefits achieved by the APWU over the years – such as a 40-hour work week, penalty overtime, and scheduled off days – could become a thing of the past. Although the APWU MVS Division has submitted numerous proposals, we have yet to receive any proposals from the USPS, so we are virtually negotiating with ourselves. On top of that, our current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires on September 20.

07/24/2018 - (This article first appeared in the July-August 2018 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine)

By Motor Vehicle Service Craft Directors

Can we ever trust USPS management to live up to their agreements and obligations?

On August 18, 2016, during our last convention in Orlando, the Motor Vehicle Division received one of the most important arbitration decisions relating to Article 32.2.B and the renewal of Highway Contract Routes (HCRs).

11/01/2017 - (This article first appeared in the November-December 2017 issue of the American Postal Worker magazine)

By Motor Vehicle Service Craft Directors

On August 18, 2016, Arbitrator Shyam Das ruled in case Q06C-4Q-C 11182451 that the Postal Service had violated Article 32 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement by failing to notify the union of at least 212 Highway Contract Routes (HCRs) until after the contracts had already been let. Arbitrator Das’ award ordered the Postal Service to convert 110 of the disputed routes remaining in service to the Postal Vehicle Service (PVS) for regular, four-year contract terms.

Beam Bros. Trucking caught stealing from and endangering employees

06/02/2017 - On March 16, 2017, Beam Bros. Trucking, Inc., a private trucking company, was indicted on multiple counts of fraud and abuse in their capacity as a Highway Contract Route (HCR) operator for the USPS.

11/01/2016 - (This article first appeared in the November-December 2016 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

It’s no secret that the APWU has been frustrated over the Postal Service’s repeated violations of Article 32.2 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which governs subcontracting in the Motor Vehicle Service Craft. The membership as a whole has felt as though compliance with Article 32 was nonexistent. And while the APWU filed multiple grievances concerning the subcontracting of our work, it often seemed there was no light at the end of the tunnel.

09/02/2016 - The APWU won an important arbitration case on Aug. 18, when Arbitrator Shyam Das ruled that the Postal Service violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement by notifying the union of subcontracting awards after they have been let.

09/01/2016 - This article first appeared in the September-October 2016 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

After extensive negotiations and interest arbitration, the motor Vehicle Division was successful in amending key sections of Article 39 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which governs the MVS Craft. We also were successful in writing a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Re: Highway Contract Routes (HCRs).

The new agreements significantly improve the contract and add protections for members of the MVS Craft. Our fight to keep Postal Vehicle Service (PVS) work and prevent the Postal Service from undermining the contractual rights of employees will continue, but the new provisions are important steps forward.

10/14/2014 - 212. That’s how many times the USPS failed to properly notify the APWU of management decisions to renew Highway Contract Routes (HCRs) in one year.

Yet at a recent arbitration hearing, the Postal Service urged the arbitrator to deny the union’s request for a nationwide remedy for the violations, which took place across the country, from Pennsylvania to Texas and California. Instead, management argued, the arbitrator should stand by a ruling he issued in a 2004 case from St. Petersburg, FL, where he said the remedy should be decided at the local level.